Firefoxhttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/firefox
en-usSun, 02 Aug 2015 14:37:45 -0400Sun, 02 Aug 2015 14:37:45 -0400The latest news on Firefox from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-mozilla-ceo-calls-out-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-2015-7Windows 10 makes it more difficult to change your default web browser — and now Microsoft is getting blasted for it (MSFT)http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-mozilla-ceo-calls-out-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-2015-7
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:20:51 -0400Dave Smith
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55bbcaa4dd08953d198b463c-4067-3051/satya-nadella-microsoft.jpg" alt="Satya Nadella Microsoft" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella" /></p><p>Chris Beard, the CEO of Mozilla, which&nbsp;makes the popular Firefox web browser, called out Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in an open letter because Microsoft's new version of Windows makes it exceedingly difficult to change your default web browser.</p>
<p>"[Windows 10] appears to have been designed to throw away the choice your customers have made about the internet experience they want, and replace it with the internet experience Microsoft wants them to have," <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/07/30/an-open-letter-to-microsofts-ceo-dont-roll-back-the-clock-on-choice-and-control/">Beard said in a&nbsp;Mozilla blog post Thursday</a>.</p>
<p>According to Beard, "it now takes more than twice the number of mouse clicks, scrolling through content and some techinical sophistication for people to reassert the choices they had previously made in earlier versions of Windows. It's confusing, hard to navigate and easy to get lost."&nbsp;So while&nbsp;it's still possible for you to change your default settings in Windows 10, Beard argues the new design makes it "less obvious and more difficult" to find these settings, which he calls "a dramatic step backwards."</p>
<p>A Microsoft spokesperson provided the following statement to Tech Insider in response to Beard's letter:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We designed Windows 10 to provide a simple upgrade experience for users and a cohesive experience following the upgrade. During the upgrade, consumers have the choice to set defaults, including for web browsing. Following the upgrade, they can easily choose the default browser of their choice. As with all aspects of the product,&nbsp;we have designed Windows 10 as a service; if we learn from user experience that there are ways to make improvements, we will do so.</p>
<p>This controversy bears resemblance to a similar situation back in 2009, when Microsoft was accused by the European Union of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011604570.html">unfairly suppressing competition from other web browsers</a>. The following year, Microsoft agreed to give Windows users a choice of web browser alternatives to its own Internet Explorer &mdash;including Apple's Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox &mdash; when they launched the&nbsp;operating system for the first time.</p>
<p>Windows 10 has a new browser called Edge that it wants you to use instead of Internet Explorer. Explorer is still there, but Edge is the browser Microsoft sets as the default when you get a new Windows 10 machine. Edge has a minimal design and includes Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant that's similar to Siri on the iPhone.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55b7f29cdd08950f4e8b46b8-2160-1440/screenshot (11).png" alt="windows 10 edge browser cortana" data-mce-source="Screenshot" />Until Microsoft makes it a little easier to change your default web browser, <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/07/29/firefox-for-windows-10-how-to-restore-or-choose-firefox-as-your-default-browser/">Mozilla offers a handy guide on how to do exactly that</a>.</p>
<p><span>"We strongly urge you to reconsider your business tactic here and again respect people&rsquo;s right to choice and control of their online experience by making it easier, more obvious and intuitive for people to maintain the choices they have already made through the upgrade experience," Beard wrote in his letter to Nadella. "Please give your users the choice and control they deserve in Windows 10."</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-doesnt-matter-to-the-new-microsoft-2015-7" >Windows doesn't matter to the new Microsoft</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-mozilla-ceo-calls-out-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-10-new-best-features-2015-7">The 7 best new features coming to Windows 10</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-remove-flash-from-chrome-internet-explorer-firefox-and-safari-2015-7How to remove Flash on your computerhttp://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-remove-flash-from-chrome-internet-explorer-firefox-and-safari-2015-7
Wed, 15 Jul 2015 13:00:19 -0400Alastair Stevenson
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55a691d6dd0895b2548b4594-3728-2796/ap_962793480133.jpg" alt="The Flash" data-mce-source="AP Images" data-mce-caption="People in Flash costumer" /></p><p></p>
<p>Adobe Flash is a common piece of software used by most computer web browsers to play videos, GIFs and animations. If you&rsquo;ve used the internet, chances are you&rsquo;ve used Flash.</p>
<p>However, as ubiquitous as the software is, it&rsquo;s no secret Flash has been dealing with security shortcomings recently.</p>
<p>Over the last week, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/mozilla-blocks-insecure-adobe-flash-firefox-2015-7" title="Firefox will run Flash again &ndash; but the war against Adobe's least-loved product is still very much alive">there have been three serious zero-day vulnerabilities uncovered in Adobe Flash</a>.</p>
<p>"Zero-day vulnerabilities" are flaws that are found and targeted by hackers before they are discovered by security professionals.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What could this mean for you?</p>
<p>Hackers often<span>&nbsp;take advantage of&nbsp;security flaws like these to run malicious software and&nbsp;get access to&nbsp;computers.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Mozilla announced yesterday that it is temporarily disabling Flash from the browser until Adobe addresses the issues, <a href="http://9to5mac.com/2015/07/14/firefox-flash-exploit/">according to 9to5Mac</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For those who are interested in removing Flash from your internet experience, we&rsquo;ve created a step-by-step guide teaching you how to remove Flash from the Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari web browsers.</p>
<h4>Chrome</h4>
<p>To get rid of Flash on Google&rsquo;s browser take the following steps:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Copy and paste &ldquo;chrome://plugins&rdquo; into your search bar.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Find the Adobe Flash Player plugin.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click disable.</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>Internet Explorer</h4>
<p>To ditch Flash on Microsoft&rsquo;s browser:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click the gear icon in the top righthand corner of your browser window.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click &ldquo;Internet options.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Go to the Programs submenu.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Manage add-ons.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Shockwave Flash Client.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Disable.</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>Firefox</h4>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">To turn Flash off in Mozilla&rsquo;s browser (which, at the moment, is blocked by default):</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Find and click on the hamburger icon in the top right of the browser menu.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click on &ldquo;Add-ons.&rdquo;&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Go to the left column and click the &ldquo;Plugins&rdquo; sub-menu.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Go to the drop-down menu next to Shockwave Flash.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click &ldquo;Never Activate.&rdquo;</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>Safari</h4>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Finally, to scrub Adobe Flash from your </span>Macbook<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click on the Safari drop-down menu on the top left of your screen &ndash; next to the Apple logo.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Preferences.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Security.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Manage Website Settings.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Adobe Flash Player.&nbsp;</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Head to the &ldquo;</span>Go<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to the When visiting other websites&rdquo; menu.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Click Block.</span></li>
</ul><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-remove-flash-from-chrome-internet-explorer-firefox-and-safari-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/land-plane-without-pilot-emergency-2015-6">How to land a plane if the pilot has a heart attack</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-blocks-insecure-adobe-flash-firefox-2015-7Firefox will run Flash again – but the war against Adobe’s least-loved product is still very much alivehttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-blocks-insecure-adobe-flash-firefox-2015-7
Wed, 15 Jul 2015 04:00:00 -0400Alastair Stevenson
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/55a61f5add089564658b4650-2048-1536/2462706533_b6aee7445b_o.jpg" alt="fox" data-mce-source="Eric B&eacute;gin on Flickr" /></p><p>Adobe has rushed to counter growing calls to "kill" its commonly used Flash Player, releasing fixes for <a href="https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-18.html" title="Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player">a duo of bugs that led Mozilla to block it from running on Firefox</a>.</p>
<p>Mozilla began automatically blocking the Adobe Flash Player, a web video and animation tool, from running in its Firefox web browser on Tuesday following concerns about Flash's security.</p>
<p>About 16% of people use Firefox to browse the web, the world's third-most popular browser. While cutting Flash out of Firefox was by no means lethal to Adobe, it looks more and more like the market is turning against Flash.</p>
<p>The move comes after <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/facebook-chief-security-officer-calls-for-end-to-adobe-flash-2015-7">Facebook's chief security officer tweeted that he wished Adobe would kill Flash</a> so that web sites don't have to support it. And, famously, Apple founder Steve Jobs hated Flash and refused to let Apple's software run it on iPhones and iPads. <a href="https://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/">He railed against it in 2010</a>.</p>
<p>The Mozilla Foundation, which offers numerous free email, web-browsing, and mobile services, said it chose to&nbsp;<a href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-cause-issues-are-on-blocklist" title="Add-on blocked">start blocking the use of Flash Player by default on Firefox</a>&nbsp;fearing its poor security was leaving its customers unnecessarily vulnerable to hackers.</p>
<p>"Following Adobe's advisory for two critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player 18.0.0.204 [the latest version of Flash] and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh and Linux, we have disabled Flash by default in Firefox to protect our users from active exploits which are distributing malware," Mozilla director of product management Chad Weiner told Business Insider.</p>
<p>The vulnerabilities in question were uncovered after the high-profile Team Hacking leaks. The leaks occurred on July 6 when <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/hacking-team-malware-data-davinci" title="A mystery group stole 400GB of data detailing which governments are using Italian software to spy on people">a group of hackers infiltrated the Italian surveillance firm Team Hacking</a>, which creates and sells spy software.</p>
<p>The hackers <em>published</em> 400 gigabytes of allegedly stolen Team Hacking data online, including the source code of the firm's spy tools and what software vulnerabilities it exploited.</p>
<p>The exploits targeted included the Adobe Flash flaws mentioned by Mozilla. The security flaws led to a backlash against Adobe after <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/apt-group-wekby-caught-using-team-hacking-flash-zero-day-2015-7" title="If you get this 'phishy' looking email from Adobe, don't open it">criminal groups were found to have begun using the Flash bugs</a> in their cyberscams.</p>
<p>Mozilla's Weiner said the block was never meant to be permanent and that the firm always planned to end it when Adobe fixed the software's security.</p>
<p>A Mozilla representative declined to comment on whether the firm would ever consider permanently blocking Flash Player, telling Business Insider the firm had "nothing to add for the moment."</p>
<p>The&nbsp;backlash against Adobe&rsquo;s Flash has continued despite the availability of the security fix and Business Insider readers have continued to vocalise their hatred of the software.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Flash slows my computer to a crawl and probably introduced viruses as well,&rdquo; commented one angry Business Insider reader.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As an average user, I hate Flash... all the updating, adjustments in chrome, crashing, and trying to install f----ing McAfee all the time,&rdquo; added another.</p>
<p>One reader even went so far as to argue: &ldquo;Flash is utter s**t, the fact that it still exists is a monument to inertia, self preservation, and politics in IT.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mozilla has previously been proactive and aggressive when dealing with insecure products, or technologies it, or its users, feels are invading its customers' privacy.</p>
<p>Mozilla used a solution developed by Stanford lecturer Jonathan Mayer, a privacy advocate, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jonathan-mayer-and-cookies-in-firefox-2013-5" title="Meet the man who turned off cookies in Firefox and doesn't care if it hurts advertisers">to turn off third-party cookies in Firefox</a> in May 2013.</p>
<p>Cookies are pieces of code websites drop into your browser when you visit websites. They are used by advertisers to target you with ads.</p>
<p>The European Parliament imposed laws, forcing websites dropping cookies to alert visitors they were doing it in 2012.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-blocks-insecure-adobe-flash-firefox-2015-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-ios-9-new-features-2015-6">The 12 best new features coming to the iPhone</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/see-if-you-can-you-spot-the-logo-changes-of-these-tech-companies-2015-7Can you spot the subtle ways these tech companies changed their logos?http://www.businessinsider.com/see-if-you-can-you-spot-the-logo-changes-of-these-tech-companies-2015-7
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 15:32:15 -0400Biz Carson
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53f4f6b1eab8ea9b37f7d18c-800-400/google%20tnail%202x1.jpg" alt="Google new logo slideshow tnail 2x1" border="0"></p><p>Companies draw a lot of attention when they change their logo in drastic ways.</p>
<p>Logo updates don't have to be a complete rebranding, though. Sometimes they are something as small as changing the spacing between letters or switching up some colors.</p>
<p>Can you spot how these tech companies changed their logos?</p><h3>We'll start with something easy. Snapchat's original logo is named Ghostface Chillah. The name was inspired by Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan.</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/50e4890deab8eaea56000000-400-300/well-start-with-something-easy-snapchats-original-logo-is-named-ghostface-chillah-the-name-was-inspired-by-ghostface-killah-of-the-wu-tang-clan.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>In 2013, Snapchat gave Ghostface Chillah a makeover. Can you spot the difference?</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/526e9c8eeab8ea1c35e65a07-400-300/in-2013-snapchat-gave-ghostface-chillah-a-makeover-can-you-spot-the-difference.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>Yep. Ghostface Chillah lost his face.</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/559474caeab8ea39728670c5-400-300/yep-ghostface-chillah-lost-his-face.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/see-if-you-can-you-spot-the-logo-changes-of-these-tech-companies-2015-7#googles-logo-tweak-is-one-of-the-hardest-to-spot-heres-the-before-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/see-if-you-can-you-spot-the-logo-changes-of-these-tech-companies-2015-7See if you can you spot the subtle ways these tech companies changed their logoshttp://www.businessinsider.com/see-if-you-can-you-spot-the-logo-changes-of-these-tech-companies-2015-7
Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:16:50 -0400Biz Carson
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53f4f6b1eab8ea9b37f7d18c-800-400/google%20tnail%202x1.jpg" border="0" alt="Google new logo slideshow tnail 2x1"></p><p>Companies draw a lot of attention when they change their logo in drastic ways.</p>
<p>Logo updates don't have to be a complete rebranding, though. Sometimes they are something as small as changing the spacing between letters or switching up some colors.</p>
<p>Can you spot how these tech companies changed their logos?</p><h3>We'll start with something easy. Snapchat's original logo is named Ghostface Chillah. The name was inspired by Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan.</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/50e4890deab8eaea56000000-400-300/well-start-with-something-easy-snapchats-original-logo-is-named-ghostface-chillah-the-name-was-inspired-by-ghostface-killah-of-the-wu-tang-clan.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>In 2013, Snapchat gave Ghostface Chillah a makeover. Can you spot the difference?</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/526e9c8eeab8ea1c35e65a07-400-300/in-2013-snapchat-gave-ghostface-chillah-a-makeover-can-you-spot-the-difference.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>Yep. Ghostface Chillah lost his face.</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/559474caeab8ea39728670c5-400-300/yep-ghostface-chillah-lost-his-face.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/see-if-you-can-you-spot-the-logo-changes-of-these-tech-companies-2015-7#googles-logo-tweak-is-one-of-the-hardest-to-spot-heres-the-before-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-to-block-currency-information-2015-5Venezuela says it's working on a way to kill Google and Mozilla so no one knows about its currency crashhttp://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-to-block-currency-information-2015-5
Tue, 26 May 2015 13:10:00 -0400Linette Lopez
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/54e76a6a6bb3f7a812b7118d-1200-800/rtr4qbvz.jpg" border="0" alt="Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro"></p><p>Some ruling-party politicians in Venezuela will stop at nothing to hide the jaw-dropping fall of the country's currency, the bolivar, against the dollar.</p>
<p><span>The bolivar has declined 30% in the past month. </span></p>
<p><span>Citizens aren't supposed to know that, but they do because of </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">because an app called DolarToday has all the information.</span></p>
<p><span>President Nicolas Maduro has said the app's&nbsp;</span><span>very existence is "economic war" on the country, and it is banned in Venezuela. Back in March the government's attempt to block the app also took out websites like Amazon, Snapchat, and Pinterest.</span></p>
<p><span><span>Venezuelans have been getting around all of that, though, by using Twitter and other websites that pick up DolarToday's content.</span></span></p>
<p>This trend led one legistlator,&nbsp;<span>Juan Carlos Alemán, to suggest that Venezula should take on&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Google and Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox web browser.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Alemán went on TV Monday and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90fCuPb9ooA">said</a>&nbsp;"the problem is that we rely on servers like Google and Firefox that are search-engine technology that we don't have under our national control."</span></span></p>
<p><span>Alemán said&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">that Venezuala's&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation was working on a way to use the country's satellites "so that we can assert our independence and control this situation."</span></p>
<p>Venezuela's inflation rate hit 69% in December, according to Bloomberg. The black-market-bolivar-to-dollar exchange rate surged from 279 bolivars to the dollar at the beginning of this month to as much as 423 bolivars to the dollar recently.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5450a199ecad04b67af684e6-1200-750/screen shot 2014-10-29 at 08.11.00.png" border="0" alt="Venezuela Inflation">Within Maduro's party this has sparked a debate about the strange three-tiered currency system the country has adopted. Venezuela has different exchange rates for priority imports. The lowest rate is 6.3 bolivars to the dollar, but most Venezuelans are not getting that. They're getting the black-market rate, which has fallen 82% in the past year. Wages aren't keeping up with this either.</p>
<p>So some politicians have suggested reforming the system, but it's unclear exactly what that would do to the currency. Legislator<span>&nbsp;Germán Ferrer said on Monday that creating only one exchange rate may "start solving some equilibrium."</span></p>
<p><span>That said, all of this is uncharted territory, and Maduro's administration may want to stick with "solutions" it has stuck to in the past — blocking information and blaming outsiders for what's going on inside the country.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-venezuela-is-most-miserable-country-2015-1" >Why Venezuela is the most miserable country in the world, again</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-to-block-currency-information-2015-5#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/excel-what-if-analysis-data-tables-2015-4">This is the Excel trick that will change everything about how you work with data</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/google-firefox-message-yahoo-search-share-decline-2015-3Google is pleading with Firefox users to stop using Yahoo (GOOG)http://www.businessinsider.com/google-firefox-message-yahoo-search-share-decline-2015-3
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 07:46:00 -0400Rob Price
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54ae73fbdd0895d0708b45a5-1200-924/larry-page-8.jpg" border="0" alt="Larry Page"></p><p>Google suffered a noticeable defeat in November. Mozilla, the company behind the web browser Firefox, decided not to renew its relationship with the search giant,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-search-will-now-be-the-default-in-firefox-2014-11">instead signing a five-year deal to make Yahoo the default search engine on the browser</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, Yahoo's share of the search market has grown healthily, from 8.6% in November to 10.6% today. And Google's has correspondingly declined: <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/google-search-share-below-75-2015-2">In February, its market share dropped below 75% for the first time since 2008</a>.</p>
<p>While Google is still the clear market leader, it is still embarrassing for the company: Search is Google's bread and butter — the company's name has become a verb synonymous with finding information online. <a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-is-practically-begging-firefox-users-to-switch-their-default-search-engine-216770">Google's displeasure is now becoming clear, Search Engine Land reports</a>, with the search engine prominently asking Firefox users who do not have Google set as their default search to change when they visit the site.</p>
<p><strong>It's a big message at the top of search results, taking up prime advertising space and pushing the actual information down the page. Here's how it looks:</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5506c2a7dd089588628b4570-1200-1030/screen shot 2015-03-16 at 10.49.22.png" border="0" alt="google screenshot firefox yahoo browser business insider"></p>
<p><strong>After clicking "Learn how," the following pop-up appears:</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5506c2a7dd089588628b4571-1200-883/screen shot 2015-03-16 at 11.22.20.png" border="0" alt="google how to change firefox default search yahoo"></p>
<p><strong>This message is targeted exclusively at Firefox users, suggesting it is a direct response to the decline. We tried to replicated the message on Safari, setting the default search to Yahoo, and the message was nowhere to be seen:</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5506c2a7dd089588628b4572-1200-828/screen shot 2015-03-16 at 10.48.52.png" border="0" alt="google business insider search safari "></p>
<p>Google's dropping search share is painful for the company, but given that Firefox is used by only 12% of Americans, the long-term effects will be limited. But this may just be the start for Google.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theinformation.com/All-Eyes-on-Apple-as-Google-Search-Deal-Expires-Next-Year/">Some reports say Apple is considering dropping Google</a>&nbsp;as its default search engine on the iPhone's Safari web browser. It is not clear what Apple might use instead, whether Yahoo, Bing, or an in-house search, but any change would be a big loss for Google. <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/07/google-search-share-drops-after-firefox-switch/">The Wall Street Journal reports</a> that in December more than half of all US mobile traffic came from Safari.</p>
<p>There's a precedent for this: Back in 2012, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-maps-app-awaiting-apple-approval-2012-9">Apple replaced Google Maps</a> with an in-house Apple Maps app. The software was terribly received and plagued with bugs, but Apple seems to have learned from its mistakes. <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/21/apple-maps-poi-improving/">The map data has been gradually improving</a>, and Apple CEO Tim Cook <a href="http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/28/tim-cook-publishes-open-letter-on-maps-for-ios-6/">eventually released an apology</a> over the app.</p>
<p>Cook was so angry over the Google Maps controversy that he <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/apple-fires-maps-manager/">reportedly fired a top Apple executive</a> over the situation. If Apple is planning to ditch Google again, it will have to ensure that whichever alternative it comes up with is up to the task.</p>
<p><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-google-search-2015-3">A recent UBS research note said losing the Safari deal would not be as damaging to Google's bottom line as some are predicting</a> — even if it would be embarrassing. Either way, this new plea to Firefox users proves that Google is concerned.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-firefox-message-yahoo-search-share-decline-2015-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-useful-tips-2014-11">8 Tips For Google Search That Will Streamline Nearly Everything You Do</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-share-below-75-2015-2People are turning away from Google Search http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-share-below-75-2015-2
Tue, 03 Feb 2015 05:56:00 -0500Joshua Barrie
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/54d0b27bdd089512598b45d1-1200-924/larry-page-not-bad-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="larry page not bad (1)"></p><p>Google's search share has fallen below 75% for the first time since 2008, <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/press/yahoo-gains-further">according to statistics from StatCounter</a>.</p>
<p>The US market drop is a stark reflection of Yahoo's small but notable resurgence, as well as Bing's bold attempts to stay in the game. Together, the search engines are chipping away at Google's 10-year dominance and clawing back percentages.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jan. 2015 saw Yahoo take back search share for two consecutive months: it has risen from 10.4% in December to 10.9% in the new year. It marks a significant growth. In November, <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/press/yahoo-gains-further">Yahoo's stake stood at just 8.6%.</a>&nbsp;It's good news for CEO Marissa Mayer, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marissa-mayers-secret-plan-to-save-yahoo-is-right-under-our-nose-2012-7">who made Yahoo's search functionality one of the main areas to improve. </a>It seems this part of her plan is working.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Bing's growth is less decisive, but worth mentioning. From Dec. 2014 to January this year, its share has dropped by 0.1%, but the company has seen its search share rise from 12.1% to 12.4% overall.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Here are the stats:</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/54d0a978dd0895f54e8b45fd-837-528/screen shot 2015-02-03 at 09.19.19.png" border="0" alt="Google"></p>
<p>StatCounter reports that Google took 74.8% of US search referrals (excluding mobile) in January, clearly losing share to two of its main competitors. Yahoo, however, has enjoyed its highest yield for over five years. The main reason for this appears to be the Mozilla Firefox switch:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/yahoo-to-become-u-s-default-search-engine-for-firefox-1416436284">Yahoo has just become the default search engine for web browser Firefox.</a>&nbsp;</p>
<p>StatCounter&nbsp;CEO&nbsp;Aodhan Cullen said some analysts had predicted Yahoo's share to fall as Firefox users switched to Google in retaliation, but instead the opposite has happened: "Yahoo has increased US search share by half a percentage point," he said. "It will be fascinating to see if these gains continue."&nbsp;</p>
<p>StatCounter has also reported US search usage by Firefox users only: Yahoo-on-Firefox usage in the US has increased from 9.9% in Nov. last year to 28.3% in Jan. 2015. Google, meanwhile, saw 81.9% fall to 63.9% in the same period.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cullen remarks that Firefox is responsible solely for Google's decline. When Firefox was removed, "Google's losses were erased," he mentions. But the drop remains — the cause isn't the most important thing. If anything, it highlights the power of default search engines.</p>
<p>For now, <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/All-Eyes-on-Apple-as-Google-Search-Deal-Expires-Next-Year/">Google is the default search engine for Safari</a>, Apple's browser. But that deal expires this year. If Apple were to drop Google from Safari, hordes of Mac and iPhone users could be lost from Google's enterprise. It would be a massive loss. At the very least, it would give Yahoo and Bing an even greater chance to gain ground.</p>
<p>And that's not all that's putting Google as risk of losing share in 2015. There's also the issue of desktop usage too: 10 years ago nearly everyone browsed the web predominantly from their computers. But today that's changing. <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2353616/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began">Search Engine Watch notes than desktops are becoming increasingly defunct as people use their smartphones and tablets to go online.</a> These days, people access the internet often directly through apps, rendering traditional search engines obsolete. <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2353616/mobile-now-exceeds-pc-the-biggest-shift-since-the-internet-began">In 2014, mobile exceeded PC internet usage for the first time in history.</a></p>
<p>Google remains the internet's biggest player — by a long way. And it must be said that in the UK, and wider Europe, Google is still the winner, hands-down. It still has nearly 90% of search engine share. That's crazy.</p>
<p><a href="http://qz.com/287330/googles-dominance-in-search-is-nearing-its-peak/">But some feel the comapny has reached its peak</a>, at least in the US — which could be the start of something.&nbsp;Indeed, this graph marks a steady trend in which its falling.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54d0ad6fdd0895bd7a8b4620-1055-614/screen shot 2015-02-03 at 11.09.12.png" border="0" alt="Google">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-share-below-75-2015-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-isnt-worried-about-losing-firefox-or-safari-for-that-matter-2015-1Why Google Isn't Worried About Losing Firefox (Or Safari, For That Matter) (GOOG)http://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-isnt-worried-about-losing-firefox-or-safari-for-that-matter-2015-1
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 19:32:10 -0500Matt Rosoff
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4b1d5aa50000000000f17106-400-300/googleamitsinghal.jpg" border="0" alt="Google Amit Singhal"></p><p>On Google's fourth-quarter earnings call today, a couple of analysts asked about the recent deal between Mozilla and Yahoo, which ousted Google from the default search box in the Firefox browser and replaced it with Yahoo Search instead.</p>
<p>Google doesn't seem very worried about it.</p>
<p>On the earnings call, CFO Patrick Pichette didn't comment on the specifics of the deal, but then followed up by saying:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Our users, they love Google, they'll continue to find Google. So that's what we're really focused on....The way to win in the long-term is to make wonderful products. When you make wonderful products that are magical, people will find them.</p>
<p>Later, in response to another question about Google's distribution deal with Apple for the iOS version of Safari, Pichette went into more detail:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Google has a lot of partnerships. It's an anchor of our strategy because it actually gives us distribution, distribution is good, and so we always look for more partnerships....But also at the end of the day there's a second piece of the strategy, which is, as I said earlier, building amazing products. Because if you build amazing products, people will want to distribute your products. That is why we have Amit [Singhal] and the whole search team that actually do this amazing job through the Knowledge Graph and all the other elements of search, and no matter the device, no matter the location, no matter the time of day, if we give you the answer you were looking for in 10 clicks less than it took before, even faster and better all the time, that's what wins.</p>
<p>Reading between the lines, he's saying that even<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;if Google loses all its distribution partnerships, users will return to it anyway because it just gives better results. And Google will keep investing to make sure that's true.</span></p>
<p>There's some evidence to back this up. After the Yahoo-Mozilla deal, Google's share of paid clicks from Firefox fell from 61% to 49%. But within two weeks, it was back up to 53%.</p>
<p>In other words, a lot of Firefox users tried Yahoo Search, didn't like it as much, and went back to Google.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-isnt-worried-about-losing-firefox-or-safari-for-that-matter-2015-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-search-will-now-be-the-default-in-firefox-2014-11Firefox Dumps Google For Yahoo (YHOO, GOOG)http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-search-will-now-be-the-default-in-firefox-2014-11
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 17:25:00 -0500Karyne Levy
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/546d179eecad04c71ef5f127-600-/firefox-6.jpg" border="0" alt="Firefox" width="600"></p><p>Mozilla announced today a <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/11/19/promoting-choice-and-innovation-on-the-web/">new five-year contract with Yahoo</a> where Yahoo will be the default search engine in the US.</p>
<p>That means when you open up your browser, you won't see Google search anymore. Firefox users will see a "new enhanced Yahoo Search experience" beginning in December.</p>
<p>It will feature a "clean, modern interface" and will support Do Not Track, Mozilla says.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Google has been the default search engine since 2004. But, according to Mozilla, "<span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;">Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia will continue to be built-in as alternate search options."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;">Firefox is the third-most popular web browser, with between 14% and 19% market share, depending who's talking. Chrome and Internet Explorer are Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;">According to Mozilla, 100 billion searches are conducted per year using Firefox.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;">Yahoo has been making a big push to improve its search product. In April, Re/code reported that <a href="http://recode.net/2014/04/16/marissa-mayers-secret-plan-to-get-apple-to-dump-google-and-default-to-yahoo-mobile-search/">Yahoo had a secret plan</a> to get Apple to dump Google as the default search in its iOS devices and use Yahoo instead.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;">Yahoo search is powered by Microsoft Bing.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;"><a href="http://yahoo.tumblr.com/1313">In a blog post</a>, Yahoo's Marissa Mayer writes, "<span>At Yahoo, we believe&nbsp;</span><span>deeply in search — it’s an area of investment and opportunity for us. It’s also a key growth area for us — we’ve now seen 11 consecutive quarters of growth in our search revenue on an ex-TAC basis. This partnership helps to expand our reach in search and gives us an opportunity to work even more closely with Mozilla to find ways to innovate in search, communications, and digital content."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #000000;">The financial details of the deal weren't disclosed. According to AllThingsD, the most recent renewal of the deal it had with Google in 2011 was <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111222/google-will-pay-mozilla-almost-300m-per-year-in-search-deal-besting-microsoft-and-yahoo/">$300 million per year</a> for three years. In 2012, <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/2609538/open-source-software/who--still--pays-mozilla-s-bills--google--mainly.html">97.9% of Mozilla's revenue</a> came through partnerships with search engines, according to Infoworld.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-search-will-now-be-the-default-in-firefox-2014-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-is-building-its-own-version-of-chromecast-2014-6Mozilla Is Building Its Own Version Of Chromecasthttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-is-building-its-own-version-of-chromecast-2014-6
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:16:58 -0400
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/53a81a1c69beddc41e9abc74-630-354/firefox-chromecast.jpg" border="0" alt="firefox chromecast" /></p><p>For those who like the idea of Chromecast, streaming content to their TV via a USB stick, but don&rsquo;t want to invest in Google products, an alternative could be on the way.</p>
<p>Mozilla, most famed for its web browser Firefox, is said to be working on its own streaming stick.</p>
<p>With the focus being on openness, the stick is powered by Mozilla&rsquo;s HTML5-based Firefox OS and is capable of running a number of apps from Chromecast,</p>
<p>Currently, the device doesn&rsquo;t have either a name or a release date yet, but the focus will be on openness.&nbsp;<a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/06/20/this-firefox-os-powered-streaming-stick-is-mozillas-answer-to-chromecast-exclusive-video/" target="_blank">GigaOM is reporting&nbsp;</a>that developers will be able to code apps for multiple platforms, meaning that apps designed for Windows Phone and Firefox OS could also include casting capabilities.</p>
<p>A streaming stick is part of Mozilla&rsquo;s attempts to get into the TV streaming market. Earlier in the year, the company announced a partnership with Panasonic to develop<a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/01/06/mozilla-and-partners-to-bring-firefox-os-to-new-platforms-and-devices/" target="_blank">smart TVs powered by Firefox OS</a>.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s not clear how involved Mozilla is in the development of this device or the company that&rsquo;s developing it.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-is-building-its-own-version-of-chromecast-2014-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-firefox-29-features-2014-4Here Are The Most Important Features In The New Version Of Firefoxhttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-firefox-29-features-2014-4
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 13:24:00 -0400Lisa Eadicicco
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/535fd863eab8ea8d6435333b-480-/mozillaonebilliontbijpg.jpg" border="0" alt="mozillaonebilliontbi.jpg" width="480" /></p><p>Mozilla has just released a brand-new version of Firefox that gives the browser a cleaner look with more customization options.</p>
<p>There are a lot of minor tweaks that come with Firefox 29, but the most prominent additions include a new grid-style menu and a Customize Mode.</p>
<p>In general, the changes make it easier to navigate the browser more quickly while giving it a more streamlined look.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For instance, you can now drag and drop add-ons into the menu or toolbar for quick access. This means that if you want to send something to your Kindle or block ads, you can do it directly from your toolbar without having to disrupt whatever you're viewing.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It's definitely an improvement that Firefox fans will appreciate, and it makes the browser feel a bit more intuitive and modern.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Here's a quick look at the most important changes in Firefox 29:</p>
<p><strong>You can access the new menu by clicking the button on the far-right-hand side of the browser. It's reminiscent of the menu in Google's Chrome OS, which also displays options in a grid format.&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/535fd642ecad04a7056d5791-586-649/menufirefox.jpg" border="0" alt="MenuFirefox" width="800" /></p>
<p><strong>Customize Mode is a new feature that's designed to make sure you keep the tools and add-ons you use the most frequently in your menu bar. You can drag and drop icons between the toolbar and the menu in this mode.</strong>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/535fd7146bb3f740640c6459-1200-632/customizemode.jpg" border="0" alt="CustomizeMode" /></p>
<p><strong>There's also a new Bookmarks menu button right next to the star Bookmarks button. This launches a menu that lets you see recently bookmarked and tagged items among other actions.</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/535fdd45eab8ea9773353341-655-492/bookmarksmenu.jpg" border="0" alt="BookmarksMenu" width="800" /></p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;Tabs look much cleaner in the new version of Firefox.</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/535fd794eab8eaf96435333b-977-474/mozillatabslayout.jpg" border="0" alt="MozillaTabsLayout" /></p>
<p><strong>In the older versions of Firefox, tabs didn't blend into the background of your toolbar as easily.</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/535fd7f5ecad04a4056d5796-968-484/mozillaoldtabs.jpg" border="0" alt="MozillaOldTabs" /></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-chrome-tips-2014-4" >Essential tips for saving time in Google search and the Chrome browser</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-firefox-29-features-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-co-founder-anti-gay-candidate-2014-4OkCupid Co-Founder Says He Supports Gay Marriage, Despite Donating To An Anti-Gay Congressmanhttp://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-co-founder-anti-gay-candidate-2014-4
Wed, 09 Apr 2014 10:27:00 -0400Megan Rose Dickey
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5345546aecad04f94fdd38c0-840-630/sam-yagan-okcupid.png" border="0" alt="sam yagan okcupid" /></p><p>Just days after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-urges-firefox-boycott-2014-3http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-urges-firefox-boycott-2014-3" target="_blank">OkCupid urged its users to boycott Mozila Firefox</a> for its now-former CEO's views on gay marriage, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-arrington-slams-okcupid-founder-2014-4" target="_blank">news broke that OkCupid co-founder Sam Yagan once donated money to an anti-gay candidate</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>According to federal election records,&nbsp;</span><a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?24981789080">Yagan donated $500 in 2004 to U.S. Congressman Chris Cannon</a><span>&nbsp;who has a "</span><a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Chris_Cannon.htm#Civil_Rights" target="_blank">special kind of hate for gays</a><span>," investor Michael Arrington&nbsp;</span><span></span><a href="http://uncrunched.com/2014/04/06/the-hypocrisy-of-sam-yagan-okcupid/" target="_blank">wrote on his blog Uncrunched</a><span>&nbsp;earlier this week.&nbsp;</span><a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/393/chris-cannon/76#.U0K2e8fGLZs">Cannon received a 0% rating on supporting gay rights</a><span>&nbsp;from the Human Rights Campaign. He also voted for a ban on gay adoptions, and supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, Arrington wrote.</span></p>
<p><span>Yagan is now the CEO of Match.com, which owns OkCupid.</span></p>
<p>But Yagan says that he was not aware of Cannon's stance on gay rights at the time, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/okcupid-anti-gay-candidate_n_5110655.html?utm_hp_ref=tw" target="_blank">he told The Huffington Post in an emailed statement</a>. Instead, Yagan said he donated to Cannon because of his position on the House subcommittee for Internet and intellectual property.</p>
<p>"I accept responsibility for not knowing where he stood on gay rights in particular," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/okcupid-anti-gay-candidate_n_5110655.html?utm_hp_ref=tw" target="_blank">Yagan told The Huffington Post</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;">.</span>&nbsp;"I unequivocally support marriage equality and I would not make that contribution again today."</p>
<p>Here's the full statement, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/okcupid-anti-gay-candidate_n_5110655.html?utm_hp_ref=tw" target="_blank">via The Huffington Post</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">A decade ago, I made a contribution to Representative Chris Cannon because he was the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that oversaw the Internet and Intellectual Property, matters important to my business and our industry. I accept responsibility for not knowing where he stood on gay rights in particular; I unequivocally support marriage equality and I would not make that contribution again today. However, a contribution made to a candidate with views on hundreds of issues has no equivalence to a contribution supporting Prop 8, a single issue that has no purpose other than to affirmatively prohibit gay marriage, which I believe is a basic civil right.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-arrington-slams-okcupid-founder-2014-4" >Mike Arrington Says OkCupid's 'Hypocritical' CEO Uses 'Explicitly Evil' PR Stunts </a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-co-founder-anti-gay-candidate-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-anti-gay-views-2014-4Not Everyone Is Happy That Mozilla's CEO Was Forced Out For His Anti-Gay Viewshttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-anti-gay-views-2014-4
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:16:00 -0400Jim Edwards
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/533dd03f69bedd194327b038-811-608/brendaneich-2.png" border="0" alt="BrendanEich" /></p><p>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-out-2014-4">resignation of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich</a>, 1998 founder of the company that makes the Firefox Web browser, because he has anti-gay-marriage views is not sitting well with everybody. He quit after a sustained <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-prop-8-controversy-2014-3">campaign by his own employees</a>, who believed his views made him not credible as a leader.</p>
<p>At the heart of the move is a fundamental contradiction: Eich's foes disapproved of Eich's intolerance for LGBT people. But in the end they could not tolerate Eich's opinions, which for years he kept private and, by all accounts, did not bring into the workplace. The "tolerant" were not tolerant enough of a man they considered intolerant, even though he had tolerated them for about 15 years, in other words.</p>
<p>The issue is made more complicated by the fact that Eich's views (a private donation to a campaign to make gay marriage illegal in California) had almost nothing to do with his job (making a Web browser that works really well).</p>
<p>Within an hour of his exit, <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7525198">a comments thread on Hacker News</a> &mdash; a site popular with the coders and developers who care most about Mozilla &mdash; had grown to nearly 600 comments, both pro and con.</p>
<p>Those celebrating his departure pointed out that as Mozilla is a collaborative nonprofit, Eich's prejudice against homosexuals might deter talent from joining the company. Those bemoaning it, however, noted that he lost his job simply because he had an unpopular opinion that had nothing to do with his work.</p>
<p>Here's a selection of those comments, which were posted under anonymous screen names:</p>
<ul>
<li>The most damning aspect of this was their a) inability to predict this would be an issue and b) their inability to deal with it once it did.</li>
<li>I don't think 'integrity' in the face of an opinion that is becoming more and more unacceptable to hold in our culture is a good thing. Changing your views, and admitting you were wrong is the best thing you can do.</li>
<li>... there's no absolute right to be a public-facing CEO, and it's not unreasonable for the public to name-and-shame companies for their stances on public issues and the people they choose as corporate leaders.</li>
<li>This is exactly how opinion worked in East Germany. You didn't have to be a communist, but if you weren't you would never work again.</li>
<li>Mozilla made a business decision that the guy was a liability for a public non-profit. That's capitalism, not totalitarianism.</li>
<li>It's surprising how intolerant people become once their opinion becomes the socially acceptable one.</li>
<li>This is exactly how oppressive mobs work.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://recode.net/2014/04/03/mozilla-co-founder-brendan-eich-resigns-as-ceo-and-also-from-foundation-board/">Eich had kept his views on gay marriage quiet until last year,</a> according to Re/code. He told the Guardian, &ldquo;So I don&rsquo;t want to talk about my personal beliefs because <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/01/mozilla-ceo-brendan-eich-refuses-to-quit">I kept them out of Mozilla</a> all these 15 years we&rsquo;ve been going. ... I don&rsquo;t believe they&rsquo;re relevant.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Mozilla Executive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker didn't know about his views until last year, according to Re/code:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Baker said that she had not known about Eich&rsquo;s views on gay marriage throughout most of their working relationship, until the donation came to light last year.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;That was shocking to me, because I never saw any kind of behavior or attitude from him that was not in line with Mozilla&rsquo;s values of inclusiveness,&rdquo; she said.</p>
<p>Eich, perhaps, stated the irony best when he was talking about what would have happened if he &mdash; or other employees &mdash; had been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/01/mozilla-ceo-brendan-eich-refuses-to-quit">excluded from Mozilla on the basis of their views</a> at an earlier date:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I would&rsquo;ve been excluded, someone else would&rsquo;ve been excluded because of me &mdash; I wouldn&rsquo;t have done that personally, they&rsquo;d have just left. So imagine a world without Firefox: not good.</p>
<p>But the tide is turning against Eich's kind. Being prejudiced against gay and lesbian people today is turning out to be a bit like being prejudiced against black people in the 1950s. People with those views are simply on the wrong side of history, and companies don't want executives distracting their staff or customers with views that, increasingly, seem extreme and mean-spirited, even if they are private.</p>
<p>No tech company CEO could have expected to keep his or her job if they had made a quiet donation to the KKK, for instance.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-out-2014-4" >Mozilla's anti-gay-marriage CEO is out</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-anti-gay-views-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-out-2014-4Mozilla's Anti-Gay-Marriage CEO Is Outhttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-out-2014-4
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 15:03:00 -0400Jay Yarow
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/533db17d6bb3f7e80c0c756c-1200-924/4693852906_0ba3d8acc2_o.jpg" border="0" alt="Brendan Eich Firefox Mozilla" /></p><p>Mozilla's CEO Brendan Eich is out.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Eich is resigning as CEO and leaving the board of Mozilla, the open-source computing company that makes the Firefox browser.</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He had been under fire for supporting anti-gay marriage legislation i</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">n California in 2008.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Some Mozilla employees had been calling for his resignation on Twitter for the past week.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Dating site OkCupid changed its home page so that if someone using Firefox came to it, it would tell them about Eich and suggest they switch browsers.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In a blog post Mozilla said: "<a href="http://www.mozilla.org/mission/">Mozilla</a><span>&nbsp;prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn&rsquo;t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it&rsquo;s because we haven&rsquo;t stayed true to ourselves."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Eich co-founded Mozilla in 1998 and was previously the company's CTO. He invented the programming language JavaScript.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>"Brendan Eich is a good friend of 20 years, and has made a profound contribution to the web and to the entire world,"&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/451800039925374977">said venture capitalist Marc Andreessen on Twitter</a>&nbsp;in reaction to the news.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 15px;">In recent interviews, Eich sounded defiant and unlikely to resign. It looks as if the pressure was too much and he decided that for the good of the company he would leave.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Eich's problems at Mozilla might have been bigger than just his support for anti-gay marriage legislation. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Wall Street Journal </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/28/three-mozilla-board-members-resign-over-choice-of-new-ceo/">reported that three board members</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> &mdash;&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;ex-Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs, ex-Mozilla CEO John Lilly, and Ellen Siminoff, CEO of online education startup Shmoop &mdash; left Mozilla's board because they wanted an outsider to run the company.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p><span>A Mozilla spokesperson had this to say about the board members leaving, "The three board members ended their terms before Brendan was publicly announced as CEO for a variety of reasons. Two had been planning to leave for some time, one since January and one explicitly at the end of the CEO search, regardless of the person selected."</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="https://twitter.com/johnolilly/status/451802552229568512">Lilly</a><span>&nbsp;also took to Twitter to weigh in:&nbsp;</span><span>"I don't really know of any other organization that would write something quite like that [blog post on the CEO leaving], and so I'm very hopeful from here about Mozilla."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Kara Swisher at Re/code </span><a href="http://recode.net/2014/04/03/mozilla-co-founder-brendan-eich-resigns-as-ceo-and-also-from-foundation-board/">had the news</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;first. Mozilla </span><a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/04/03/brendan-eich-steps-down-as-mozilla-ceo/">confirmed it in a blog post</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's the post:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><a href="http://www.mozilla.org/mission/">Mozilla</a>&nbsp;prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn&rsquo;t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it&rsquo;s because we haven&rsquo;t stayed true to ourselves.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We didn&rsquo;t act like you&rsquo;d expect Mozilla to act. We didn&rsquo;t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We&rsquo;re sorry. We must do better.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He&rsquo;s made this decision for Mozilla and our community.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Our organizational culture reflects diversity and inclusiveness. We welcome contributions from everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views. Mozilla supports equality for all.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We have employees with a wide diversity of views. Our culture of openness extends to encouraging staff and community to share their beliefs and opinions in public. This is meant to distinguish Mozilla from most organizations and hold us to a higher standard. But this time we failed to listen, to engage, and to be guided by our community.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">While painful, the events of the last week show exactly why we need the web. So all of us can engage freely in the tough conversations we need to make the world better.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We need to put our focus back on protecting that Web. And doing so in a way that will make you proud to support Mozilla.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">What&rsquo;s next for Mozilla&rsquo;s leadership is still being discussed. We want to be open about where we are in deciding the future of the organization and will have more information next week. However, our mission will always be to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just: that&rsquo;s what it means to protect the open Web.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We will emerge from this with a renewed understanding and humility &mdash; our large, global, and diverse community is what makes Mozilla special, and what will help us fulfill our mission. We are stronger with you involved.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Thank you for sticking with us.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Mitchell Baker, Executive Chairwoman</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-out-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-interview-2014-4Under Fire For Supporting Anti-Gay Marriage Legislation, Mozilla's CEO Speaks Outhttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-interview-2014-4
Wed, 02 Apr 2014 08:37:00 -0400Lisa Eadicicco
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/533c010469bedd9e330a1ab3-800-/brendaneich-1.png" border="0" alt="BrendanEich" width="800" /></p><p>Since Mozilla appointed its former CTO Brendan Eich as CEO last week, the company been caught up in a whirlwind of controversy.</p>
<p>Eich donated $1,00 to Prop 8 in 2008&mdash;the California bill that deemed gay marriage illegal&mdash;and some members of the Mozilla community have said this contradicts the company's values of openness and inclusion.</p>
<p>Eich doesn't feel that way, however. In an&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/mozilla-ceo-gay-marriage-firestorm-could-hurt-firefox-cause-q-a/">interview with <span>Stephen Shankland at</span>&nbsp;CNET</a>, Eich said personal beliefs are checked "at the door" when coming to work at Mozilla:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"It may be challenging for a CEO, but everyone in our community can have different beliefs about all sorts of things that may be in conflict. They leave them at the door when they come to work on the Mozilla mission."</p>
<p>For Eich, Mozilla's principle of inclusiveness also means including everyone regardless of what their beliefs are. If this doesn't uphold, the company is doomed, Eich said during the interview.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d95e2ef2-2250-5094-a0e7-c73e5ddd5a6a"><span>"If Mozilla cannot continue to operate according to its principles of inclusiveness, where you can work on the mission no matter what your background or other beliefs, I think we'll probably fail."</span></span></p>
<p><span>Last week a few <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-prop-8-controversy-2014-3">Mozilla employees urged Eich to step down</a> almost immediately after he was appointed as CEO. Eich co-founded the company in 1998 and his donation to Prop 8 was made public in 2012, but there was no backlash until he transitioned into the role of CEO.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>The controversy extends far beyond Mozilla's own employees. Earlier this week popular dating platform OK Cupid displayed a message <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-urges-firefox-boycott-2014-3">urging its users to switch to another browser</a> when visiting the website in Firefox. A petition urging Eich to either reverse his stance on LGBT rights or step down has amassed more than 70,000 signatures in less than a week.</span></p>
<p><span><span>In his interview with CNET, Eich acknowledged that he had hurt members of the LGBT community, but also said that he shouldn't be judged by his personal values.</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d95e2ef2-2257-5f2d-397a-c7bbc29ae200">When people learned of the donation, they felt pain. I saw that in friends' eyes, [friends] who are LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered]. I saw that in 2012. I am sorry for causing that pain...<span id="docs-internal-guid-d95e2ef2-2258-29a6-4df1-8a80e4103b37"><span>I would be asked to be judged, like I would judge other company executives, by my conduct and how I comport myself in my role.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>In general, Eich said personal and religious values shouldn't interfere with a CEO's professional duties:</span></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><span><span>Beliefs that are protected, that include political and religious speech, are generally not something that can be held against even a CEO.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>
<p>Although Eich made it clear that he doesn't intend to change his stance because it's not "good for my or Mozilla's integrity," he shared plans for a new LGBT-focused initiative with CNET. The effort, called Project Ascend, sounds as if it would help people in the LGBT community in "less than ideal" living situations find work within Mozilla.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/mozilla-ceo-gay-marriage-firestorm-could-hurt-firefox-cause-q-a/">Read the whole thing at CNET &gt;</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-interview-2014-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-urges-firefox-boycott-2014-3OkCupid Asks Users To Boycott Firefox Because The Company's CEO Is Anti-Gay Marriagehttp://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-urges-firefox-boycott-2014-3
Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:20:00 -0400Jillian D'Onfro
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5339e433ecad04c802e58c39-480-/gay-couple-same-sex-marriage-2.jpg" border="0" alt="gay couple same-sex marriage" width="480" /></p><p>If you try to log on to OkCupid using Firefox, you'll get a message from the dating site urging you to use a different browser to protest the fact that Mozilla's new CEO doesn't support gay rights.</p>
<p>This is the latest in a slew of controversies over Mozilla's appointment of Brenden Eich, who both supported&nbsp;a proposition to essentially ban gay marriage in California &mdash; Proposition 8 &mdash; and donated to the politicians who backed it. Last week, several Mozilla employees <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-prop-8-controversy-2014-3" target="_blank">publically posted their disappointment</a> in the company's decision to hire Eich, stating that his personal beliefs contradict the company's values.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The OkCupid post says that if people like Eich had their way &mdash; if gay marriage were banned &mdash; then 8% of relationships formed on OkCupid would be illegal and that the company doesn't want to contribute to the success of someone who supported Prop 8, even through its page loads.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"OkCupid is for creating love," the post reads. "Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame, and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure."</p>
<p>A Mozilla spokesperson sent the following to Business Insider:&nbsp;<span>"Mozilla supports equality for all, including marriage equality for LGBT couples. No matter who you are or who you love, everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally. OkCupid never reached out to us to let us know of their intentions, nor to confirm facts."</span></p>
<p>Here's the full post from OkCupid:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Hello there, Mozilla Firefox user. Pardon this interruption of your OkCupid experience. Mozilla&rsquo;s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples. We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Politics is normally not the business of a website, and we all know there&rsquo;s a lot more wrong with the world than misguided CEOs. So you might wonder why we&rsquo;re asserting ourselves today. This is why: we&rsquo;ve devoted the last ten years to bringing people&mdash;all people&mdash;together. If individuals like Mr. Eich had their way, then roughly 8% of the relationships we&rsquo;ve worked so hard to bring about would be illegal. Equality for gay relationships is personally important to many of us here at OkCupid. But it&rsquo;s professionally important to the entire company. OkCupid is for creating love. Those who seek to deny love and instead enforce misery, shame, and frustration are our enemies, and we wish them nothing but failure.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">If you want to keep using Firefox, the link at the bottom will take you through to the site. However, we urge you to consider different software for accessing OkCupid.</p><p><strong>NOW WATCH:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-draper-on-silicon-valley-2014-1#!B9R7x" >Why Does Everyone Hate Silicon Valley?</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/just-say-hello-cure-loneliness-2014-3" >Oprah wants you to put down your smartphone and just say hello to someone instead</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/okcupid-urges-firefox-boycott-2014-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-prop-8-controversy-2014-3Mozilla Staff Urge Their CEO To Step Down Because He's Anti-Gay Marriagehttp://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-prop-8-controversy-2014-3
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:51:00 -0400Lisa Eadicicco
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/533583f2ecad04443562e9f8-800-/brendaneichmozillafoundationofficialphoto.jpg" border="0" alt="Brendan_Eich_Mozilla_Foundation_official_photo" width="800" /></p><p>Some employees at Mozilla, the non-profit organization behind the Firefox browser, are calling on new CEO&nbsp;<span>Brendan Eich to resign.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Mozilla workers are upset with Eich because he supported Proposition 8 and donated to the politicians who backed it.</span></p>
<p>Prop 8 was a Californian ballot-proposition banning same-sex marriage. It was officially rejected in February 2012.</p>
<p>But some employees at Mozilla, such as design researcher Emily Goligoski, feel that Eich's decision to back Prop 8 goes against Mozilla's core values as a company. Goligoski posted the following on Twitter.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>To me, <a href="https://twitter.com/mozilla">@Mozilla</a> is about openness &amp; expression of freedom. I hope to see us have leadership that represents those values in their actions.</p>
&mdash; emgollie (@emgollie) <a href="https://twitter.com/emgollie/statuses/449231010824081408">March 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>
<p>Kat Braybrooke, curator and co-design lead at Mozilla, had the following to say:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>Like many <a href="https://twitter.com/mozilla">@Mozilla</a> staff, I'm taking a stand. I do not support the Board's appointment of <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanEich">@BrendanEich</a> as CEO. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Prop8&amp;src=hash">#Prop8</a> <a href="http://t.co/msKVNjuhgR">http://t.co/msKVNjuhgR</a></p>
&mdash; Kat Braybrooke (@codekat) <a href="https://twitter.com/codekat/statuses/449243912717094912">March 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script>
<p>Mozilla's Open Badges project lead Chris McAvoy sparked the Twitter conversation with the following tweet, which was initially spotted by Ars Technica.<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>I love <a href="https://twitter.com/mozilla">@mozilla</a> but I'm disappointed this week. <a href="https://twitter.com/mozilla">@mozilla</a> stands for openness and empowerment, but is acting in the opposite way.</p>
&mdash; Chris McAvoy (@chmcavoy) <a href="https://twitter.com/chmcavoy/statuses/449230710901985280">March 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
<p>It's a bit surprising that Mozilla employees are speaking up about Eich now. He cofounded Mozilla in 1998, and prior to being CEO, he served as the company's chief technology officer.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">He also widely respected for inventing the JavaScript Web scripting language in 1995.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Eich hasn't hid from the fact that he supported anti-gay marriage legislation.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Following his appointment, Eich said the following regarding the LGBT community at Mozilla on his personal blog:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">At the same time, I know there are concerns about my commitment to fostering equality and welcome for LGBT individuals at Mozilla. I hope to lay those concerns to rest, first by making a set of commitments to you. More important, I want to lay them to rest by actions and results ... I know some will be skeptical about this, and that words alone will not change anything. I can only ask for your support to have the time to &ldquo;show, not tell&rdquo;; and in the meantime express my sorrow at having caused pain.</p>
<p>Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, &nbsp;issued the following statement to Business Insider concerning the situation. The company also published <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/press/2014/03/mozilla-statement-on-diversity/">a blog post </a>on the importance of diversity within the company earlier this week.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>Our culture of openness extends to letting our staff and community be candid about their views on Mozilla&rsquo;s direction. We're proud of that inclusiveness and how it distinguishes Mozilla from most organizations. We expect and encourage Mozillians to speak up when they disagree with management decisions, and carefully weigh all input to ensure our actions are advancing the project&rsquo;s mission</span></p>
<p>We spoke with a Mozilla employee who seemed surprised by the uproar. This employee said there's been no internal craziness &mdash; "<span>It's being made out worse than it really is" &mdash;&nbsp;</span>and our source expects it to blow over.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"H<span>e&rsquo;s addressed it at all company meetings," o</span>ur source says. "He's not changing his position. But&nbsp;<span>I haven't seen it get in the way of anyone advancing at Mozilla."</span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-ceo-prop-8-controversy-2014-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/its-a-race-to-the-bottom-2014-2Everyone's Talking About The $35 Smartphonehttp://www.businessinsider.com/its-a-race-to-the-bottom-2014-2
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 09:51:00 -0500Jay Yarow
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/530b5b09eab8eaaf2df5177e-480-/firefox-phone.jpg" border="0" alt="firefox phone" width="480" /></p><p>It's only the first official day of Mobile World Congress, the big mobile industry conference in Barcelona, but there's already a clear theme: Phone-makers are doing ultracheap smartphones.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The high end of the smartphone market is controlled by Apple and Samsung. Therefore, handset makers are giving up on trying to compete in the premium market.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That leaves the low end in places like India, Latin America, and Africa. And when we say low end, we mean&nbsp;<em>low end.</em></p>
<p>Firefox, for instance, was talking about delivering a $25 smartphone. Someone here at MWC <a href="https://twitter.com/Nemo_incognito/status/437895601976381440">snapped aphoto of a $35 dollar smartphone</a> from a Chinese manufacturer.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A huge area of smartphone growth in the future will be upgrading markets in developing countries from feature phones (or "dumbphones") to smartphones. <a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/348626/scitech/technology/global-smartphones-sales-surpass-feature-phones-for-first-time-in-2013">One billion smartphones were sold globally last year, up from 680 million the year before</a>. That huge increase was due in large part to feature phone customers upgrading to Android or Apple. But <a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/348626/scitech/technology/global-smartphones-sales-surpass-feature-phones-for-first-time-in-2013">1.8 billion phones were sold in total, according to Gartner</a> &mdash; many of them feature phones. The implication is that a $35 smartphone would entice the next billion users to buy smartphones. Not everyone can afford something like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphones-in-brazil-cost-1200-2014-2">an iPhone, that in Brazil, for instance, costs a month's wages</a>.<br /></span></p>
<p>Yesterday, during Microsoft's press event, it said it was making it easier for handset-makers to sell cheaper phones.</p>
<p>Then, this morning, Nokia revealed an Android-Based phone that goes for $129.&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Nokia also introduced a new "Asha" phone that sells for $67. Asha is Nokia's super-low-end smartphone platform.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Nokia had nothing to introduce at the high end of the market, it was all low-end stuff today.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">We visited the Firefox booth to find out more about its $25 phone. Right now, it's mostly theoretical. It has a reference design that it wants carriers and phone makers to use. It's unclear if any of them really will make a $25 phone.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">When asked why they should make a cheap smartphone, Firefox said it wanted to get smartphones in the hands of people who don't yet have phones.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">That seems to be what this MWC is all about: How do we get smartphones in the hands of the people who haven't been able to afford them so far?</span></span></p>
<h3><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /><strong>NOW WATCH: The New Facebook App 'Paper' Is Fantastic</strong><br /></span></span></h3>
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<p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/its-a-race-to-the-bottom-2014-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/firefox-introduces-home-screen-ads-2014-2Firefox Fought Tooth And Nail Against Ad Tracking, And Now It Will Serve Its Users Ads Directlyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/firefox-introduces-home-screen-ads-2014-2
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 11:31:00 -0500Aaron Taube
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52fb9ecdecad043472c7f410-480-/mozilla-vp-of-content-services-darren-herman.jpg" border="0" alt="Mozilla VP of content services Darren Herman" width="480" /></p><p>Mozilla's Firefox browser has been a thorn in the side of the digital advertising industry ever since it decided <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/firefox-to-block-third-party-cookies-2013-2">to test an update that would have blocked all third party cookies</a> a year ago.</p>
<p>A<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">dvertisers and data collection firms use those cookies to learn about people's browsing habits so they can target them with ads they'll be likely to click on, and the cookies have for years been the backbone of the digital advertising ecosystem.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Feb. 2013 move made Mozilla public enemy No. 1 among the online advertising community, and Interactive Advertising Bureau general counsel Mike Zaneis called it a "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="https://twitter.com/mikezaneis/status/305320662426324992">nuclear first strike against [the] ad industry</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">."</span></p>
<p>A year later, the landscape has changed dramatically. The third-party cookie is in decline <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-plans-tracking-alternative-to-cookies-2013-10">with major tech companies like Microsoft and Google</a> working to develop their own proprietary tracking technologies. And now, Firefox will be serving its users ads directly from the moment they open the browser.</p>
<p>Mozilla <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/advancingcontent/2014/02/11/publisher-transformation-with-users-at-the-center/">announced on its Content Services blog</a> that when first-time Firefox users open the program for the first time, they will see links to content where the browser usually displays a user's most visited sites. And some of those pieces of suggested content will be "sponsored content from hand-picked partners to help support Mozilla&rsquo;s pursuit of our mission."</p>
<p>Mozilla said the "Directory Tiles" program is being done to make Firefox more sustainable and improve the first-time user experience.</p>
<p>"We are excited about Directory Tiles because it has inherent value to our users, it aligns with our vision of a better Internet through trust and transparency, and it helps Mozilla become more diversified and sustainable as a project," Mozilla VP of content services Darren Herman wrote on the blog. "While we have not worked out the entire product roadmap, we are beginning to talk to content partners about the opportunity, and plan to start showing Directory Tiles to new Firefox users as soon as we have the user experience right."</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/firefox-introduces-home-screen-ads-2014-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>